Must-Have WordPress Plugins… What’s in Your Toolkit?

Review
1

I’ve been working with WordPress for about a year, mainly creating websites for small businesses. I know a bit of HTML and CSS, but I usually stick with page builders instead of coding everything myself. Right now, I’m using Elementor, but I’m thinking about trying Bricks.

Everyone has their go-to tools, so I’m curious: What plugins do you consider essential for WordPress? Here’s a list of categories with a few examples to get the conversation going:

  • Page Builder: Elementor, Bricks, Divi, Gutenberg
  • Security Plugin: Wordfence
  • Caching Plugin: WP Rocket, WP Fastest Cache
  • Analytics Plugin: GA4, MonsterInsights
  • Cookie Plugin (EU): Borlabs Cookies, Complianz
  • SEO Plugin: Rank Math, Yoast SEO, AIOSEO
  • Translation Plugin: WPML, Polylang, Loco Translate
  • Form Plugin: Contact Form 7, WP Forms
  • Backup Plugin: Updraft
  • Miscellaneous: ACF, Akismet, Redirection, WooCommerce

Drop your suggestions below, and I’ll try to add them to my list!

2

I would add ‘Image optimization’ as a category. It’s super important. ShortPixel or EWWW are my favorites.
For caching, I prefer an accelerator plugin like FastPixel or NitroPack because they offer more features than just caching.

3

We all have our preferences. When I started, I was mostly using free plugins and now I use a lot of premium ones. After many years of working on my WordPress setup, everything works smoothly for our business needs.
All plugins and themes are compatible with each other, so I don’t run into any issues.

4

I don’t use Akismet anymore.
I use WP Armour + Maspik (with an abuse IP DB account) and Cloudflare Turnstile instead.

5

Here are two plugins that are super useful for security and management:

  • WP activity log – It tracks user activity, generates reports, and more. This one is a must-have.
  • WP 2FA – This is one of the best, lightest, and most reliable 2FA plugins. It’s going to be a standard soon.
6

Form: WSForms
Anti-spam: OOPSpam
SEO: SEOPress
Builder: Gutenberg

7

[deleted]

8

Linden said:
[deleted]

No, I don’t use the Starter Templates plugin.

9

Morgan said:

Linden said:
[deleted]

No, I don’t use the Starter Templates plugin.

[deleted]

10

Linden said:

Morgan said:
Linden said:
[deleted]

No, I don’t use the Starter Templates plugin.

[deleted]

Is there an advantage to using it? I just use the ‘Hello’ Theme and start designing with Elementor.

11

@Morgan
[deleted]

12

Linden said:
@Morgan
[deleted]

Oh yeah, I know about that. But I prefer working with a blank canvas. I think it’s more fun to figure things out as I go, and I don’t get that same experience with templates or themes from ThemeForest, for example.

13

Why do I see this same post every 2 days…

14

Uma said:
Why do I see this same post every 2 days…

People are just lazy to post it every day.

15

The only translation plugin I recommend is ConveyThis. It works with any WordPress setup and helps create multilingual websites that attract more Google attention and organic traffic.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/conveythis-translate/
I work there, by the way.